. >>> and the world wondering who will succeedpopebenedictxvi,developments on when we'll know the name of the next pope. >>> the president made a lot of promises in his state of the union address last year about jobs. did he keep them? we're reviewing the past year and doing a fact check and reality check on job creation. >>> this morning, talking to gordon chang, author of "nuclear showdown." gene sperling, of the national economic coast. bob mcdonnell, and chief washington correspondent jake tapper and the archbishop of washington will be with us as well. a special edition of "starting point," live in washington, d.c., begins right now. >>> welcome, everybody. north korea producing a nuclear test. the minister says it's a defensive measure against "hostile activity of the united states." and more drastic measures could be on the horizon. the u.n. security council calling an emergency meeting in less than two hours. we begin with jill dougherty live at the state department. jill, good morning. what are we hearing from the white house about this? >> soledad, obviously president obama is condemning

making news this morning. >> this morning, new information about whypopebenedictxvidecided it was time to step down. at a news conference minutes ago, the vatican saying the pope is not suffering from any specific disease. he just doesn't feel he has the strength to continue. and the pope has been thinking about resignation for a year. lots of names mentioned as possibilities to replace him. today, we have an idea of when the new pope will replace him. following developments live from vatican city. what have be learned in the news conference? >> reporter: good morning, john. in fact, father frederico lombardi is holding the news conference, and providing a few details. not a whole lot new. a few bits of information that are helping us to figure out what is going to happen here in the next few days. one of the things he said is that as you mentioned that there was no specific illness involved in the pope's decision to resign. he did say that the pope had had his pacemaker battery replaced recently. a normal operation, no problems. some of the italian press speculating that p

sayspopebenedictisconsidering issuing a decree that would move up the date of the conclave, that's where cardinals from around the world meet to choose the pope's successor. current church rules call for the conclave to start march 15th but this decree could speed up the process. the rules in place deals with a pope dying. with the pope not dying things could happen faster. >>> senator john mccain getting an earful at a town hall meeting near phoenix. >> this is an orwellian experience. i've had enough, sir. we've had enough. >> i retired -- >> we've had enough time. >> talking about his illegal immigration bill and some people in his home state are not happy. some residents called for strict deportation programs which mccain opposes. mccain is one of eight senators from both parties working on an immigration plan. he says the white house promised to cooperate. mccain an expert at town meetings, never a good idea to cross him there. >>> new york city residents with pistol permits can request their identities be removed from public records under the city's new gun control law. han